1043 Apr 3, Edward the
Confessor was crowned king of England.
(MC, 4/3/02)

1367 Apr 3, Henry Bolingbroke,
aka Henry of Lancaster and later Henry IV, King of England
(1399-1413), was born in Lincolnshire.
(MWH, 1994)
1367 Apr 3, John of Gaunt and
Edward the Black Prince won the Battle of Najara, in Spain.
(HN, 4/3/99)

1559 Apr 3, Philip II of Spain
and Henry II of France signed the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending
a long series of wars between the Hapsburg and Valois dynasties.
(HN,
4/3/99)(www.comune.cumiana.to.it/storia/history.html)

1682 Apr 3, Esteban Murillo
(b.1617), Spanish painter, died. Some of his mid-century work in
Seville portrayed the effects of the Plague that killed 50% of the
population in 4 months.
(WSJ, 4/9/02, p.D19)(MC, 4/3/02)

1776 Apr 3, George Washington
received an honorary doctor of law degree from Harvard College.
(AP, 4/3/97)

1783 Apr 3, Washington Irving
(d.Nov 28, 1859), essayist, author, historian, biographer,
attorney/lawyer, American writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Rip
Van Winkle), was born in New York City. "No man is so methodical as
a complete idler, and none so scrupulous in measuring out his time
as he whose time is worth nothing."
(DTnet, 11/28/97)(HN, 4/3/98)(AP, 9/10/98)

1823 Apr 3, William Macy "Boss"
Tweed, New York City political boss, was born.
(HN, 4/3/98)

1837 Apr 3, John Burroughs
(d.1921), American author and naturalist, was born. “Time does not
become sacred to us until we have lived it, until it has passed over
us and taken with it a part of ourselves."
(HN, 4/3/01)(AP, 5/28/98)

1841 Apr 3, From Nassau,
Bahamas, a British magistrate wrote that 193 shipwrecked African
slaves from the ship Trouvadore were found naked on the shores of
the East Caicos Island. The slaves were then quarantined in a jail
and given food and clothing.
(AP, 8/21/04)

1860 Apr 3, The US Pony Express
mail system began when one horse and rider carrying a bulging mail
pouch began the 10 1/2-day run from San Francisco, Calif., to St.
Joseph, Mo. Riders left St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, Ca., at
the same time. They averaged 12 mph over 75-100 mile segments
between 157 relay stations located 5 to 20 miles apart. The freight
company of Russell, Majors and Waddell began the service. The
enterprise failed after only 18 months, however, due to mounting
financial losses and competition from the ever-expanding telegraph
network. Donald C. Biggs (d.2000 at 72), prof. of history at SF
State, later authored "The Pony Express: Creation of the Legend."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express)(SFC,
2/15/97, p.D4)(AP, 4/3/97)(SFC, 6/12/00, p.A24)(SFC, 7/22/17, p.C2)

1882 Apr 3, Wood block alarm
was invented. When alarm rang it dropped 20 wood blocks.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1882 Apr 3, Outlaw Jesse James
(34) was shot in the back and killed at his home in St. Joseph, Mo.,
by Robert Ford, a cousin and member of his own gang for a $5,000
reward. Jesse and Frank James, the bank robbing James brothers, were
born as Woodson and Alexander. In 1995 the body of Jesse James was
exhumed for DNA testing. The test proved that it was James, who was
killed in 1882. In 2000 Desmond Barry authored the novel “The
Chivalry of Crime" based on the story of Jesse James. In 2000 the
body of a man, J. Frank Dalton (d.1951), who claimed to be Jesse
James was exhumed for DNA analysis.
(AP, 4/3/97)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)(SFEC, 4/23/00,
BR p.5)(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A4)(HNQ, 6/21/00)(HN, 4/3/02)

1898 Apr 3, Henry R. Luce
(d.1967), magazine publisher, founder of Time, Fortune and Life, was
born. “Show me a man who claims he is objective and I’ll show you a
man with illusions."
(HN, 4/3/01)(AP, 3/9/98)

1911 Apr 3, The US Supreme
Court ruled against Dr. Miles Medical Co., which had sued a
distributor for selling at cut rate prices. In 1937 Congress passed
the Free Trade Law letting states selectively allow price fixing to
protect small retailers.
(http://supreme.justia.com/us/220/373/)(WSJ,
8/18/08, p.A12)

1913 Apr 3, British suffragette
Emily Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in jail.
(http://suffragettes.nls.uk/media/28977/project_1_4_1.pdf)

1930 Apr 3, The first of two
Academy Awards banquets this year was held in Los Angeles at the
Fiesta Room of the Ambassador Hotel. The awards were given for films
released between 2 August 1928 and 31 July 1929.
(SFC, 3/13/02,
p.D5)(www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/1930-1)
1930 Apr 3, Helmut Kohl, German
statesman and chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, was
born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(HN, 4/3/99)
1930 Apr 3, Ras Tafari became
Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 4/3/02)

1933 Apr 3, The dirigible Akron
crashed into the Atlantic off of New Jersey and killed 73 0f the 76
men aboard.
(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A21)
1933 Apr 3, Royal Air Force
Lieutenant David McIntyre and the Scottish Marquess of Clydesdale,
flying two open-cockpit Westland aircraft, completed the first
overflight and aerial photographic survey of Mount Everest. The
British Mount Everest team, battled extreme cold and high winds as
they photographed the previously unknown crest of the 29,028-foot
peak.
(HNPD, 4/3/99)

1934 Apr 3, Jane van
Lawick-Goodall, ethologist (studied African chimps, 1974 Walker
Prize), was born in London, England. She was a British
anthropologist, known for her work with African chimpanzees. In 2000
her autobiography “Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters,
The Early Years, 1934-1966," was edited by Dale Peterson.
(HN, 3/4/99)(SFEC, 6/18/00, BR p.6)(SC,
3/4/02)(MC, 4/3/02)

1936 Apr 3, Bruno Hauptmann,
convicted for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, was electrocuted
in Trenton, N.J. The execution took 4 shocks and left Hauptman badly
burned. He claimed his innocence until he died. In 1976 NBC aired a
show titled The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and Anthony Scaduto
published "Scapegoat." In 1982 PBS made the documentary Who Killed
the Lindbergh Baby and in 1985 Ludovic Kennedy published "The Airman
and the Carpenter." In 1996 a docudrama was aired by HBO based on
the Kennedy book.
(WSJ, 9/9/96, p.A16)(AP, 4/3/97)(SSFC, 4/3/11, DB
p.46)

1942 Apr 3, Marsha Mason,
actress (Blume in Love, Cinderella Liberty), was born in St Louis,
Mo.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1942 Apr 3, The Japanese began
their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
(HN, 4/3/99)

1944 Apr 3, Tony Orlando,
singer (& Dawn-Tie a Yellow Ribbon), was born in NYC.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that black citizens are eligible to vote in all
elections, including primaries. The Smith vs. Allwright decision
ruled "white primaries" unconstitutional.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, British dive
bombers attacked the battle cruiser Tirpitz.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, On Orthodox Easter
the Allied bombing of Nazi occupied Serbia resulted in the deaths of
some 4,000 Serbian civilians. An account of the raids, requested by
US Gen'l. Carl Spaatz, found that most of the bombs struck at least
600 yards from their targets.
(SFC, 4/1/99, p.A12)

1946 Apr 3, Lt. General
Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan
Death March, was executed outside Manila in the Philippines.
(AP, 4/3/97)

1948 Apr 3, Garrick Ohlsson,
pianist (Intl Busoni winner 1969), was born in Bronxville, NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, The 1st US figure
skating championships were held.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, Congress adopted
and President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more
than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries. The Marshall Plan
was begun to aid the European nations in their economic recovery
following WW II. It provided $13.15 billion over 4 years to 17
European nations.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A20)(AP, 4/3/97)(SFEC, 5/25/97,
p.A10)(HN, 4/3/98)

1950 Apr 3, Kurt Julian Weill
(50), German composer (Dreigroschenoper), died. His best known work
is the music for "The Threepenny Opera." His work also included "Der
Jasager." He was married to the singer Lotte Lenya. Letters between
the two over a period of 26 years have been edited and translated in
a book by Lys Symonette and Kim H Kowalke: "Speak Low (When You
Speak Love)." His work also included the theater piece "Der Weg der
Verheissung" (The Eternal Road). In 2002 Foster Hirsch authored
"Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway."
(SFC, 5/26/96, BR p.6)(WSJ, 5/4/99, p.A20)(SSFC,
3/17/02, p.M3)
1950 Apr 3, Carter G. Woodson
(b.1875), black historian, died. Woodson is best known for is the
creation of what became "Black History Month," begun in 1926 as
"Negro History Week." The idea of learning more about black history
caught on in schools all over the country. Many scholars recognize
him as the “Father of Black History." His work included “The Negro
in Our History" (1922).
(WSJ, 5/19/05,
p.D8)(www.biography.com/articles/Carter-G.-Woodson-9536515)

1953 Apr 3, Walter Annenberg of
Philadelphia began a national TV Guide. His father had published
Radio Guide and he bought TV Forecast in Chicago and local
television guides in New York, Philadelphia and Washington to begin
his operation. A picture of the first cover featured Lucy and Desi
Arnaz’ baby (I Love Lucy).
(www.tvhistory.tv/tv_guide1.htm)(WSJ, 5/8/98,
p.W10)(www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/tv-guide.htm)

1954 Apr 3, Aristides de Sousa
Mendes (b.1885), former Portuguese consul general in Bordeaux,
France, died in poverty. He is credited with defying his
government’s orders and saving 10,000 European Jews and some 20,000
other nationals by issuing transit visas to “undesirables" fleeing
the Nazis during WW II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristides_de_Sousa_Mendes)(SFC,
2/19/09, p.B5)

1955 Apr 3, In Guadalajara,
Mexico, a night train plunged into a canyon and some 300 people were
killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)

1959 Apr 3, David Hyde Pierce,
actor (Niles Crane-Fraiser), was born in NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1959 Apr 3, "Charlie Brown" by
The Coasters was banned by the BBC because it contained the word
"spitball."
(AP, 4/3/03)

1964 Apr 3, Stuart Anderson
(1922-2016) founded the Black Angus chain of restaurants with the
first one opening in Seattle. The first steak dinners sold for
$2.99. The chain was sold in 1972. By 2016 there were some 45 Black
Angus Steakhouse, mostly in California.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Angus_Steakhouse)(SFC, 6/10/16,
p.E5)

1966 Apr 3, Three-thousand
South Vietnamese Army troops led a protest against the Ky regime in
Saigon.
(HN, 4/3/98)

1968 Apr 3, Less than 24 hours
before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech to a rally
of striking sanitation workers, "It really doesn't matter with me
now, because I've been to the mountain top, and I don't mind."
(AP, 4/3/98)
1968 Apr 3, North Vietnam
agreed to meet with US representatives to set up preliminary peace
talks.
(AP, 4/3/97)

1971 Apr 3, Manfred Bennington
Lee (65), detective writer, died. Brooklyn cousins Daniel Nathan,
alias Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manford Lepofsky, alias
Manfred Bennington Lee (b.1905), used Ellery Queen as both a
fictional character and a pseudonym.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellery_Queen)
1971 Apr 3, Joseph Valachi
(b.1903), US gangster, died at La Tuna Federal Correctional
Institution in Texas. A biography heavily influenced by Valachi’s
memoirs and by interviews with Valachi was written by journalist
Peter Maas and published in 1968 as The Valachi Papers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Valachi)

1974 Apr 3, A tape from the SLA
announced Patty Hearst’s decision to “stay and fight" with the SLA.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22,23)
1974 Apr 3, The Joint Committee
on Internal Revenue Taxation of the Congress reported that $476,531
in back taxes and interest was owed by President Richard Nixon.
Responding to charges of fraud, Nixon requested the committee
investigation of his taxes and, upon its report, agreed to pay. The
report made no conclusion regarding fraud.
(HNQ,
6/1/98)(www.house.gov/jct/aboutjct_mandate.html)
1974 Apr 3, A series of 148
deadly tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before
jumping across the border into Canada; some 330 people were killed
in 13 states: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Total property damage was
estimated at $600 million. In 2007 Mark Levine authored “F5:
Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the
20th Century."
(AP, 4/3/99)(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(SSFC, 9/4/05,
p.A7)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)

1978 Apr 3, In the 50th Academy
Awards "Annie Hall" won as film. Richard Dreyfuss won as best actor
(The Goodbye Girl) and Diane Keaton won as best actress (Annie
Hall).
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271340/)

1979 Apr 3, Democrat Jane M.
Byrne (1934-2014) was elected as the 1st woman mayor of Chicago,
defeating Republican Wallace D. Johnson. She continued in office to
1983 when she lost to state Sen. Harold Washington.
(AP, 4/3/97)(SSFC, 11/16/14, p.C8)
1979 Apr 3, In Belgium Wilfried
Achiel Emma Martens (b.1936) became prime minister for the 1st of 9
times.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfried_Martens)

1982 Apr 3, Britain dispatched
a naval task force to the south Atlantic to reclaim the disputed
Falkland Islands from Argentina. The UN Security Council demanded
Argentina withdraw from Falkland Islands.
(AP, 4/3/02)

1991 Apr 3, "Penn & Teller
Refrigerator Tour" opened at Eugene O'Neill in NYC.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4636)
1991 Apr 3, The UN Security
Council (Resolution 687) adopted a Gulf War truce resolution
demanding that Iraq abolish weapons of mass destruction, renounce
terrorism and pay reparations.
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1991 Apr 3, English novelist
Graham Greene died at age 86. His wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning,
died in 2003 at age 98. Greene had told his wife that he had had 32
other women. His books included “The Quiet American" (1955). In his
so-called “Catholic" novels he challenged the idea that God is a
cruel, unstinting Rules Keeper. In 2004 Norman Sherry completed “The
Life of Graham Greene, Vol. III, 1955-1991."
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 8/25/03, p.B4)(SFC, 10/2/04,
p.E2)(WSJ, 10/6/04, p.D14)

1992 Apr 3, President Bush,
speaking in Philadelphia, said members of Congress should shorten
their annual sessions and retire after 12 years, calling for changes
in "a failed status quo"; Democratic leaders accused Bush of
"scapegoating."
(AP, 4/3/97)

1993 Apr 3, The Norman Rockwell
Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., opened. it replaced the Old Corner
House Museum on Main St. that had housed the artist’s nearly 600
works.
1993 Apr 3, President Clinton
and Russian President Boris Yeltsin opened a weekend summit in
Vancouver, B.C., beginning talks after a luncheon with Canadian
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1993 Apr 3, Pinky Lee (85),
former children's TV show host, died of a heart attack at his
California home.
(AP, 4/3/03)

1994 Apr 3, Frank Wells,
president of the Walt Disney Co., died in helicopter crash while
returning from a ski trip in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains.
(www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Frank_Wells)
1994 Apr 3, In his Easter
Sunday address, Pope John Paul II expressed hope that the joy of
Christianity would overwhelm the din of violence and hate.
(AP, 4/3/99)

1995 Apr 3, UCLA defeated
Arkansas, 89-78, to win the NCAA basketball championship.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1995 Apr 3, Former United Way
of America President William Aramony was convicted in Alexandria,
Va., of 25 counts of fraud for stealing nearly $600,000 dollars from
the nation's biggest charity.
(AP, 4/3/00)

1996 Apr 3, Much of North
America was treated to a total lunar eclipse.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.62)
1996 Apr 3, FBI agents arrested
a suspect thought to be the Unabomber. Theodore John Kaczynski was
arrested near Lincoln, Montana on a tip from his brother. His mail
bombs had killed 3 and injured 23 over the last 17 years. An
original draft of his manifesto “Industrial Society and Its Future"
was found some days later.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-1)(AP,
4/3/97)
1996 Apr 3, A US Air Force
jetliner crashed near Dubrovnik, Croatia, and 35 people on board
were killed including Ron Brown, Sec. of Commerce. Brown had been
leading a delegation of business executives to the former Yugoslavia
to explore business opportunities that might help rebuild the
war-torn region.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-1)(AP,
4/3/97)
1996 Apr 3, Carl Stokes died of
cancer AT 68. He was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967, the first
black mayor of a major US city. He had been on medical leave from
his post since 1994 as ambassador to the Seychelles.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(AP, 4/3/97)

1997 Apr 3, About 2,000
youngsters in California and Georgia lined up for shots to protect
them against hepatitis from a contaminated shipment of frozen
strawberries.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1997 Apr 3, In Tennessee 6
chained prisoners burned to death when their transport vehicle
caught fire.
(WSJ, 4/4/97, p.A1)

1998 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton
warned that Japanese officials “have to make a break" with their
past policies. Moody’s Investor’s Services changed its outlook on
Japan’s government debt to “negative" from “stable."
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 3, Douglas Fred Groat,
a disgruntled spy fired by the CIA, was charged with espionage and
extortion. Groat later pleaded guilty to extortion, and was
sentenced to five years in prison.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 Apr 3, The Dow Jones
industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time, but
finished with a 3.23 point drop at 8,983.41.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 cApr 3, A 2-day meeting
called by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers was
attended by 18 African nations, over a dozen European countries and
Japan, Canada and Argentina. They endorsed measures to control the
spread of light weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A13)

1999 Apr 3, In Louisiana a
tornado hit north of Shreveport and 10 people sere reported killed
with some 100 injured.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A2)
1999 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton
authorized $50 million in emergency funds for Kosovo refugees and
urged Americans to make donations.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A11)
1999 Apr 3, A small plane
crashed in a snowstorm San Diego County and 4 people on board were
killed.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A5)
1999 Apr 3, NATO missiles
struck downtown Belgrade for the first time, destroying the
headquarters of security forces accused of waging a campaign against
Kosovo Albanians. NATO bombs struck the Serbian Internal Ministry
buildings near the Sava River.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A1)(AP, 4/3/00)
1999 Apr 3, Melaim Bellanica, a
villager from Velike Krusa, handed to international media a
5-day-old, smuggled video clip of Serb atrocities from his home.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 3, Montenegro
announced that over 31,000 Kosovar Albanians had entered the country
since NATO assaults began and that it was facing a humanitarian
catastrophe.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, Macedonia,
overwhelmed by some 70,000 Kosovar Albanians, declared that it won't
accept any more refugees unless they are sent on to other European
countries.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, Montenegro
announced that over 31,000 Kosovar Albanians had entered the country
since NATO assaults began and that it was facing a humanitarian
catastrophe.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, It was reported
that North Korea would run out of food this month and that some 2
million people would be packed off to the countryside to farm in the
4th year of famine.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A3)
1999 Apr 3, Lionel Bart, born
as Lionel Beglieter, died at age 68 in London. He wrote and composed
the 1960 musical "Oliver" based on the Dickens novel "Oliver Twist."
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.B12)
1999 Apr 3, In Sri Lanka 15
rebels were killed at Janakapurna village and 4 soldiers were killed
by a land mine in Tanmakeny village. 5 other rebels were killed in
the north.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A9)

2000 Apr 3, In Indianapolis
Michigan State beat the Florida Gators for the NCAA basketball
championship, 89-to-76.
(WSJ, 4/5/00, p.A24)(AP, 4/3/01)
2000 Apr 3, Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft violated the Sherman Act by
tying its Internet browser to its operating system, and by keeping
“an oppressive thumb" on competitors during the race to link
Americans to the Internet.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A1)(AP, 4/3/01)
2000 Apr 3, The US granted
visas to the immediate family of Elian Gonzalez along with a cousin,
doctor, and teacher. 22 other visas were under review.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, US defense chief
Cohen said that the US would join an int’l. force in south Lebanon
when Israel pulls out.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, A regional director
of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students
who work as teaching and research assistants at New York Univ. may
organize a union.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A3)
2000 Apr 3, The Nasdaq plunged
349 points while the Dow rose 300.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, In Massachusetts
the nation’s most comprehensive gun safety laws went into effect.
(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 3, It was reported
that 6 prestigious int’l. universities and cultural institutions
planned to sell knowledge and education over the Internet via the
Fathom Web site.
(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A5)
2000 Apr 3, In Bosnia NATO
troops arrested Momcilo Krajisnik, former speaker of the Bosnian
Serb assembly, for war crimes and flew him to the Netherlands to
stand trial. In 2006 Momcilo Krajisnik was convicted by the Yugoslav
war crimes tribunal in The Hague for persecuting and forcibly
expelling non-Serbs during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia. He was
released in 2013 after serving two-thirds of a reduced 20-year
sentence.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A10)(SFC, 8/31/13, p.A6)
2000 Apr 3, In Colombia leftist
rebels of the national Liberation Army kidnapped 23 motorists in
northern Cesar state after calling for a transportation strike.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 3, Jean Dominique
(69), radio journalist, was killed by 2 gunmen as he drove in for a
morning newscast in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In 2004 Jonathan Demme
debuted his documentary film "The Agronomist," a paean to Dominique.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/29/02, p.A1)(SFC,
4/30/04, p.E6)
2000 Apr 3, In Madagascar a
cyclone left 2 people dead and nearly flattened the town of
Antalaha.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, In Russia 2
cosmonauts were scheduled to lift off for the Mir space station.
(WSJ, 4/3/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, Turkish warplanes
struck Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)

2001 Apr 3, President Bush
warned China it risked damaging relations with the United States
unless it quickly released the American crew of a damaged Navy spy
plane. The plane had made an emergency landing in China after
colliding with a Chinese fighter.
(AP, 4/3/02)
2001 Apr 3, The DJIA fell 292
to 9,485. The Nasdaq fell almost 110 to 1,673.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, US agents seized
over 7 tons of marijuana from a tractor-trailer at the Tijuana
border. It was believed to be the largest seizure along the
US-Mexican border and was valued at $12.1 million.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A4)
2001 Apr 3, A US fishing boat,
the Arctic Rose out of Seattle, sank in the Bering Sea and all 15
aboard were feared dead.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, Israel fired
rockets at 4 Gaza Strip targets after a 10-year-old boy was injured
in a mortar assault on a Jewish settlement.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 3, In Russia Pres.
Putin in his state-of-the-nation address promised a government-wide
shakeup to reverse capital flight and sustain new economic growth.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A11)(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, In Russia the NTV
leadership was ousted by Gazprom, a large stake holder. Protesting
journalists barred access to the Ostankino studios.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, Sri Lanka agreed to
open peace talks with Tamil rebels following diplomatic initiative
by Norway.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)

2002 Apr 3, Cincinnati, Ohio,
agreed to restrictions on the use of force and announced plans to
establish an independent agency to investigate police brutality
complaints.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A4)
2002 Apr 3, Roy Huggins,
novelists, TV writer and producer, died at age 87. His shows
included “Cheyenne," “The Fugitive" and “The Rockford Files."
(SFC, 4/15/02, p.B5)
2002 Apr 3, The US-financed
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty began broadcasting in the North
Caucasus region that included Chechnya. The Kremlin viewed the
broadcasts as interference with internal affairs.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A6)
2002 Apr 3, Afghan security
officials reported the arrests of hundreds of political opponents
who planned a conspiracy and bombing campaign that was linked to
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. 140 men were released the next day, while 160
remained under detention.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A8)(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 3, In Argentina
Domingo Cavallo, former economy minister (1991-1996), was arrested
for illegal arms sales to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s,
diverting 6,500 tons of weapons worth over $100 million. He was
indicted Apr 10 for “aggravated contraband."
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A7)(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 3, In Ambon,
Indonesia, a car bomb killed 4 people and wounded 43.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A8)
2002 Apr 3, Israeli tanks
entered the West Bank cities of Jenin, Salfeet and Nablus. At least
1 Israeli soldier and 12 Palestinians were killed. Gunners from
Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchanged artillery and mortar fire with Israeli
troops. Scores of Palestinian gunmen were holed up in the Church of
the Nativity in Bethlehem. The Egyptian government announced a
cutoff of official contacts with Israel. Syria shifted 20,000 troops
in Lebanon toward the Lebanese-Syrian border reportedly in accord
with the 1989 Taif agreement.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A1,13)(WSJ,
4/4/02, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.A4)
2002 Apr 3, Pakistan’s Gen.
Musharraf visited Afghanistan and presented Hamid Karzai with a $10
million donation.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A8)

2003 Apr 3, Moving with a sense
of wartime urgency, the House and Senate separately agreed to give
President Bush nearly $80 billion to carry out the battle against
Iraq and meet the threat of terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2003 Apr 3, In the 16th day of
Operation Iraqi Freedom US Marines and infantry moved with
surprising speed toward Baghdad. Central Command said there was
"increasing evidence" that Saddam Hussein's regime had lost control
of its fighting forces. US troop casualty totaled: 51 dead, 16
missing and 7 captured. A power blackout in Baghdad coincided with
heavy artillery fire. US forces attacked Saddam Int'l. Airport.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/4/03, p.W1)(SSFC, 5/4/03,
p.C3)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a
US checkpoint in western Iraq, killing three coalition soldiers, a
pregnant woman and the car's driver. Atlantic magazine editor
Michael Kelly, 46, became the first American journalist to be killed
while covering the Iraq war when his Army Humvee came under fire and
rolled into a canal.
(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 3, US Sec. of State
Colin Powell assured NATO allies and the EU that the Bush
administration seeks a partnership with the United Nations for the
reconstruction of post-war Iraq.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, The International
Monetary Fund warned that the US housing market, after two years of
record sales over and strong increases in home prices, could be
headed for a fall.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, It was reported
that Alzheimer's symptoms were slowed by the drug memantine.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Afghan militia
soldiers and 2-day blistering airstrikes by US-led coalition planes
killed eight suspected Taliban fighters in the southern mountains.
(AP, 4/4/03)
2003 Apr 3, In Chechnya a bus
was blown apart by a remote-controlled mine, killing at least six
people.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, The Colombia
government said it is handing over about 14,000 acres of farmland
seized from drug traffickers to poor farmers, marking Pres. Alvaro
Uribe's first effort at agrarian reform. Efforts to cancel the
property rights of drug traffickers were to be stepped up along with
the transfer of some 750,000 acres of their property to peasants.
(AP, 4/3/03)(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Cuban security
forces arrested the hijackers of a passenger ferry, rescuing nearly
50 hostages.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2003 Apr 3, French air traffic
controllers, postal workers and other public employees brought much
of the country to a halt with a one-day strike over government plans
to overhaul the pension system.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroder said he hoped for a quick victory by US and British
forces in Iraq.
(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A7)
2003 Apr 3, Haiti's government
officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners
to begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal
authority.
(AP, 4/10/03)(AP, 2/11/04)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a
US checkpoint in western Iraq, killing 3 coalition soldiers, a
pregnant woman and the car's driver. Banditry and plundering were
reported across the countryside. Atlantic magazine editor Michael
Kelly (46), became the first American journalist to be killed while
covering the war when his Army Humvee came under fire and rolled
into a canal.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 3, In northeastern
Congo 966 people were killed in attacks by armed militants on
villages in Ituri province. UN investigators later discovered some
20 mass graves in the region.
(AP, 4/6/03)
2003 Apr 3, Israeli forces
evicted some 1,500-3,000 Palestinian men from their homes in the
Tulkarem Refugee Camp and told them to stay out for 3 days. Several
Palestinians were killed in Gaza and West Bank raids.
(SFC, 4/4/03, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Ivory Coast's
insurgents ended their boycott of a new unity government and urged
the international community to help make it work.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Peru's Congress
voted to create a Senate and return to a bicameral legislature, a
decade after former Pres. Fujimori shut down the two houses in his
so-called self coup.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Serbia and
Montenegro became a member of the Council of Europe.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, In Spain a female
doctor described as mentally unbalanced stabbed several people at a
Madrid hospital, killing a colleague and a patient and wounding six
others.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Venezuela’s
government fired 828 more employees from Petroleos de Venezuela
(PDVSA), the state oil monopoly, for participating in a two-month
strike to oust Pres. Chavez. PDVSA lost many of its most experienced
and best-qualified employees. Altogether Chavez fired some 18,000
employees of PDVSA this year and many of them soon found work
Colombia.
(AP, 4/4/03)(Econ, 8/12/06, p.56)(Econ, 7/19/14,
p.31)

2004 Apr 3, Soccer player
Freddy Adu (14), became the youngest athlete in a major American
professional sport in well over a century as he entered a game
between his team, D.C. United, and the San Jose Earthquakes (D.C.
United won, 2-1).
(AP, 4/3/05)
2004 Apr 3, The US Postal
Service unveiled a new John Wayne commemorative postage stamp for
its annual "Legends of Hollywood" issue at a private fund-raiser.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2004 Apr 3, Hundreds of
thousands of Germans protested against Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder's unpopular drive to trim the welfare state.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2004 Apr 3, A U.S.-led
multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti helped detain
Jean Robert, a rebel sympathizer and gang leader accused of
terrorizing supporters of Aristide.
(AP, 4/9/04)
2004 Apr 3, In Iraq 2 attacks
on Iraqi police south of Baghdad killed four people. Col. Wissam
Hussein, the police chief of Mahmudiyah, was shot to death by gunmen
dressed as police.
(AP, 4/3/04)(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 3, Israeli troops
arrested 23 wanted Palestinians early in a large-scale raid in the
West Bank city of Nablus. Zohair Arda, a Palestinian gunman, broke
into an Israeli settlement early, killing an Israeli man and
wounding his 12-year-old daughter in their home. Israeli troops
entered the Tulkarem refugee camp overnight and demolished the home
of Arda (18), who was shot dead during the attack.
(AP, 4/3/04)(AP, 4/4/04)
2004 Apr 3, Slovaks voted for a
new president. Former authoritarian PM Meciar led after the first
round of Slovakia's presidential election. Low turnout set up an Apr
17 runoff against a former political ally.
(AP, 4/4/04)(WSJ, 4/5/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 3, In Spain Sarhane
Abdelmajid Fakhet (35), a Tunisian national and the alleged
ringleader of last month's train bombings in Madrid, was among 5
suspects who blew themselves up as police raided their apartment.
(AP, 4/4/04)(SFC, 4/5/04, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/6/04,
p.A1)

2005 Apr 3, Daylight Savings
Time (DST) began on this 1st Sunday in April.
(SFC, 4/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, In Arizona
Minuteman anti-immigrant activists began showing up to guard the
border against illegal crossings. Grupo Beta, a Mexican
government-sponsored organization that tries to discourage people
from crossing illegally and aids those stranded in the desert, began
patrolling that area along with state police officers.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 3, Residents in
China’s Zhejiang province clashed with police officers and workers
sent in to quell their protests over pollution from chemical
factories. As many as 60 cars were destroyed and some people were
reported killed.
(SSFC, 10/2/05,
p.C1)(www.christusrex.org/www1/news/nyt-4-14-05b.html)
2005 Apr 3, Iraqi lawmakers
elected Sunni Arab Hachem Hassani as parliament speaker and Shiite
and Kurdish leaders as his deputies, ending days of deadlock.
(AP, 4/3/05)(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, In eastern Pakistan
hundreds of Islamic radicals protesting against the participation of
women in a road race hurled stones and bricks at competitors, and
clashed with police, leaving at least 18 people injured.
(AP, 4/3/05)
2005 Apr 3, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas announced plans for a jobs program aimed at militants.
(SFC, 4/12/05, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/6ldnx)
2005 Apr 3, In central Saudi
Arabia a gun battle began that left 7 suspected al-Qaida militants
killed in a shootout with Saudi security forces in ar-Rass.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 3, In southern
Thailand 2 near-simultaneous bombs exploded, including one at the
airport in Hat Yai city killing one person and wounding a dozen.
(AFP, 4/3/05)
2005 Apr 3, A day after the
death of Pope John Paul II, the body of the pontiff lay in state.
Millions prayed and wept at services across the globe, as the
Vatican prepared for the ritual-filled funeral and conclave that
would choose a successor.
(AP, 4/3/06)

2006 Apr 3, The Pentagon
released 2,733 pages of declassified transcripts of Guantanamo Bay
detainee hearings.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A4)
2006 Apr 3, In Boston a 10-ton
construction platform collapsed and fell 13 stories killing 3 people
on Boylston St.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A3)
2006 Apr 3, Denver area transit
workers went on strike for the 1st time in 24 years. A tentative
contract was reached on April 5.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A3)(SFC, 4/6/06, p.A18)
2006 Apr 3, David Wittig,
former chairman and CEO of Westar Energy, was sentenced in Kansas to
18 years in prison for defrauding the company. Former VP David Lake
was sentenced to 15 years. Both men were ordered to pay fines of $5
million each.
(WSJ, 4/4/06, p.C3)
2006 Apr 3, Florida beat UCLA,
73-57, to win its first NCAA title in men's basketball.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, Charles Barkley,
Dominique Wilkins and Joe Dumars were among six people elected to
the Basketball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, Constellation
Brands and Vincor Int’l., Canada’s largest wine company announced
plans for a $1.3 billion merger.
(SFC, 4/6/06, p.F2)
2006 Apr 3, Australia agreed to
sell China uranium for nuclear power stations despite concerns that
Beijing could divert the material to atomic weapons.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Czech officials
declared a state of emergency in seven flood-hit regions while
rivers continued to rise in neighboring European countries, forcing
evacuations in some areas. Flooding was also reported in Germany,
Poland, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The National Bank
of Greece paid $2.8 billion for 46% of Finansbank, Turkey’s 3rd
largest bank. It planned a public offer for a controlling stake.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.74)
2006 Apr 3, In western
Guatemala 4 young men accused of trying to rob a school were whipped
by their parents in a sentence dictated by Mayan elders.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, A suicide truck
bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad as
worshippers were leaving after evening prayers, killing at least 10
people and wounding 30. A car bombing in Baghdad's eastern Shiite
slum of Sadr City killed at least two civilians and wounded six
others, including a 9-year-old boy. 4 people were wounded when a car
bomb struck the central district of Karradah in Baghdad. Six people,
a navy officer, two policemen, two workers at an electrical plant
and a boy, were killed by drive-by shooters in a market area of the
southern city of Basra.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, PM Bertie Ahern
pledged that Ireland will legalize civil partnerships for gay
couples, as he opened new offices for the country's main gay rights
group.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, In Jordan a bomb
exploded at a shop selling Iraqi scrap metal, killing two people and
wounding four.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Dozens of Mexican
newspapers, frustrated by fruitless police probes of slain and
missing journalists, simultaneously published the first in a series
of reports on the cases.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Morocco’s state
news agency MAP said security forces were holding nine suspected al
Qaeda activists. Local newspapers said they were part of a ring that
plotted bomb attacks in France, Italy and Morocco.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The chief of
Nepal's communist rebels promised to suspend attacks on the capital
ahead of a planned nationwide strike, a first sign of easing
tensions in a battle of nerves between the king's government and its
opponents.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, In Pakistan a
roadside bomb killed five people riding a minibus and security
forces shot dead two suspected militants in North Waziristan
province.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Negotiations in
Vienna on the future of Kosovo appeared to founder as UN mediators
struggled to overcome Serb demands for autonomy within the majority
Albanian territory.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Former Liberian
President Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty before an international
war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, denying he'd helped destabilize
West Africa through killings, sexual slavery and sending children
into combat.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, A senior South
African policeman went on a shooting rampage in Johannesburg,
killing eight people, including a 2-year-old baby, before being shot
dead by colleagues. A pedestrian was killed during a police chase of
the suspect.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 3, Jan Egeland, the
U.N.'s top humanitarian official in Sudan, said the government
barred him from visiting Darfur to prevent him seeing poor
conditions there.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Mohammed al-Maghout
(72), a Syrian poet and playwright known for his satirical
depictions of authoritarian Arab regimes, died of a stroke at his
home in Damascus.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, PM Thaksin claimed
victory in Thailand's general election that followed weeks of
anti-government protests, saying his party won more than half of the
popular vote, the threshold he had set for staying in office.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Venezuela seized
control of oil fields from France's Total SA and Italy's Eni SPA in
a show of force against those resisting President Hugo Chavez's
efforts to pry more profits from the industry at a time of high oil
prices.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 3, Dao Dinh Binh (61)
Vietnam's transport minister resigned and his deputy was arrested in
a major corruption scandal in which public officials embezzled
millions of dollars in government funds. The reformist newspapers
Thanh Nien (Young people) and Tuoi Tre (Youth Daily) had published a
joint expose of the transport ministry’s road building unit. In 2009
the government refused to renew the contracts for the papers.
(AFP, 4/4/06)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.43)

2007 Apr 3, President Bush
denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving
money for the Iraq war; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's trip to Syria.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation
said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn
of Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19
countries held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for
torture and abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, An ex-con shot and
killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta
before being wounded by a security guard. Arthur Mann was later
convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without
parole.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, After a nine-year
title drought, Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team captured a
seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, Eddie Robinson
(b.1919), 56-year head football coach at Grambling College, died in
Ruston, La.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Robinson_(football_coach))
2007 Apr 3, UN officials in
Afghanistan said avalanches and floods triggered by heavy rains and
spring snow melt have killed about 150 people in recent days in the
mountains of central Asia. The toll in Afghanistan reached 88 with
over 50 killed in Pakistan. In southwest Afghanistan 2 French aid
workers and their three Afghan staff went missing between Nimroz and
neighboring Farah province.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency
said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the
common practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Colombian
authorities captured Ever Veloza, a fugitive right-wing warlord
accused in massacres and of running a murderous criminal band
involved in drug trafficking and extortion. He was arrested in the
banana-growing Uraba region on the Caribbean coast. Veloza already
faces charges in the April 11, 2001, massacre of 26 peasants in the
southwestern town of Naya.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Interpol issued an
international arrest warrant for three Israelis accused of training
private armies of Colombian drug cartels and right-wing death
squads. Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham were being
sought on charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in
terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Official figures
said the number of Egyptians inside and outside the country has
risen to more than 76 million, meaning an Egyptian baby is born
every 23 seconds.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, A French train with
a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed
record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped
through the countryside to the applause of spectators. It surpassed
the record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell
short of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically
levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nina Wang (69),
Asia's richest woman, died in Hong Kong after reports she had been
battling cancer, leaving unanswered questions over her estimated
$4.2 billion (2.1 billion pound) fortune. Wang successfully battled
her father-in-law for a multi-billion dollar estate left by her late
husband Teddy Wang, a property tycoon who vanished in 1990. Wang
left her $4 billion fortune to Chan Chun-chuen, a master of feng
shui in a will dated Oct. 16, 2006. On Feb 2, 2010, a Hong Kong
court deemed the will a forgery.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/20/07)(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.78)(AP, 2/2/10)
2007 Apr 3, Activists said
traffickers are selling children in India for amounts that are often
lower than the cost of animals and most of them end up working as
laborers or commercial sex workers.
(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a meeting of Islamic clerics
that Muslim nations should ultimately replace coalition forces in
Iraq after a period of national reconciliation. Cliff Muntu (21), a
student at Indonesia’s Institute of Public Administration (IPDN),
died from wounds due to hazing by his seniors. This was the 35th
death in the school since 1993.
(AP,
4/3/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Muntu)(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.49)
2007 Apr 3, Iran reported that
an Iranian diplomat in Iraq seized two months ago by uniformed
gunmen has been released.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Baghdad a senior
foreign ministry official said his government was "intensively"
seeking the release of five Iranians detained there by the US. Two
US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire, one in eastern Baghdad
and another on foot patrol in the southern outskirts of the capital.
Iraqi and US troops found a huge stash of weapons in a raid on the
home of Sunni legislator Khalaf al-Ilyan. They detained at least a
dozen men for questioning. Khalaf al-Ilyan, in Jordan for surgery,
later denied the charges and accused the Iraqi government and Iran
of trying to discredit him because of his criticism of state
policies.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 3, Japan and Thailand
signed a free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on a wide range
of traded goods, from seafood to automobiles.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice
President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the
electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential
election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the
disqualification, setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an
election meant to solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of
flag-waving protesters rallied at Pakistan's Supreme Court to urge
President Pervez Musharraf to step down for controversially
dismissing the country's top judge.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In the Philippines
Pete Amurin, a local election board official in the city of Puerto
Rincesa, capital of Palawan island west of Manila, was shot dead at
close range near his office.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Qatar's PM Sheik
Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned and the country's emir
appointed the foreign minister as replacement.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Taiwan Presidential
front-runner Ma Ying-jeou pleaded not guilty at his corruption trial
in Taipei, saying that his use of a special municipal fund was in
keeping with government standards. A helicopter crashed into a radio
tower near Kaohsiung and killed 8 crew members.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of
Ukrainian protesters streamed into the capital in the most serious
confrontation between the prime minister and the president since the
two men faced off during the Orange Revolution.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Zimbabwe trucks
of riot police drove through Harare and military helicopters flew
overhead on the first day of a national strike to protest deepening
economic hardships blamed on the government of President Robert
Mugabe. The strike received a cool response from workers worried
about forfeiting vital wages. A UN study said Zimbabwe was Africa's
worst economic performer in 2006.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)

2008 Apr 3, President Bush won
NATO's endorsement for his plan to build a missile defense system in
Europe over Russian objections. The proposal also advanced with
Czech officials announcing an agreement to install a missile
tracking site for the system in their country. NATO decided not to
put Georgia and Ukraine on track to join the alliance after vehement
Russian opposition, but the alliance pledged that the strategically
important Black Sea nations will become members one day.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, The whistleblowers
who exposed maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest
Airlines told Congress their jobs were threatened and their reports
of noncompliance were ignored for years by their superiors.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Corn prices jumped
to a record $6 a bushel, driven up by an expected supply shortfall
that will only add to Americans' growing grocery bill and further
squeeze struggling ethanol producers.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, ATA Airlines
discontinued all flights and filed for bankruptcy.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, It was reported
that Nikolai Shaposhnikov and Lev Titarchuk had discovered a small
black hole in the Milky Way with the aid of NASA's Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer satellite. They presented the findings earlier this
week at an American Astronomical Society conference. It was
discovered alongside a normal star in a binary system called XTE
J1650-500, named for its coordinates in the constellation Ara. The
system was discovered in 2001.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Wayne "Frosty
Freeze" Frost (44), a hip-hop pioneer, died. His acrobatic
performance with the legendary Rock Steady Crew in the 1983 movie
"Flashdance" helped set off a worldwide breakdancing craze.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In eastern Kunar
province, a truck supplying fuel to NATO troops hit a roadside bomb
that killed the Afghan driver.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Chile Yasna
Provoste, Chile’s education minister, was impeached following the
discovery of $560 million shortfall in the ministry for 2004-2006.
(Econ, 5/17/08,
p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasna_Provoste)
2008 Apr 3, Hu Jia, a Buddhist
Chinese dissident outspoken on Tibet and other sensitive topics, was
jailed for three-and-a-half years, a conviction likely to become a
focus of rights campaigns ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/3/08)(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, Ivan Korade (44), a
retired Croatian army general suspected in a grisly quadruple
murder, died during a shootout with police that also killed one
officer. On April 1 Korade was charged with the March 27 killing of
four people in his village of Velika Veternicka: a 16-year-old boy,
his 62-year-old grandmother and two men, including a former Korade
aide.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Ledra Street, a
main shopping street in Cyprus' divided capital that had come to
symbolize the island's ethnic partition, reopened for the first time
in 44 years, boosting hopes for a renewed drive to reunify Cyprus.
Authorities were forced to close it for nearly two hours following a
dispute over how to police the street.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, French protesters
hurled bottles and stones at riot police who responded with tear gas
during a march by high school students in Paris over teacher job
cuts.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Iraqi troops killed
7 militants and detained 16 in three separate incidents in the Basra
area. A coalition air strike there killed two militants. A parked
car bomb targeting a police patrol in western Baghdad killed at
least one civilian and wounded 10 other people, including three
officers. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol elsewhere in
the predominantly Sunni Yarmouk neighborhood in the capital, killing
one soldier and wounding three others. The office of Muqtada al-Sadr
called for a "million-strong" turnout for an anti-American
demonstration next week to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture
of Baghdad by invading US troops. A US airman was killed by a
roadside bomb in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, Alitalia edged
closer to bankruptcy protection after Air France-KLM abruptly broke
off talks to buy the struggling national airline and Alitalia's
chairman of seven months resigned in frustration.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Japanese police
arrested Olatunbosun Ugbogu (22), a Nigerian national serving in the
US Navy, in the March 19 stabbing death of a taxi driver near an
American naval base outside Tokyo. He was handed over to Japanese
authorities just before the arrest under a bilateral security pact.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Kenya’s president
and opposition leader agreed on a cabinet as part of their
power-sharing deal to end violence.
(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, The UN tribunal in
The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that there was not enough evidence to
convict former Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj of murder, torture and
rape of Serbs and non-Albanians during the Kosovo war.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Sri Lanka
battles along the northern front lines left 21 rebels and five
soldiers dead.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Suriname a
twin-engine Antonov-AN28, operated by Surinamese carrier Blue Wing
airlines, crashed on approach to an airstrip in the Benzdorp mining
region, near the country's border with French Guiana. All 19 aboard
were killed. Blue Wing, which has operated since 2002, was barred
from landing at European airports in June 2006 after French aviation
officials found safety deficiencies during an inspection of planes.
The airline was removed from the blacklist in 2007 after a
commission said the company had resolved the issues.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Tibet Wang
Xiangming, the deputy Communist Party secretary of Lhasa, said 800
had been arrested in local violence, while another 280 had
surrendered to take advantage of a police offer of leniency. New
violence broke out in a volatile Tibetan region of western China,
leaving eight people dead. Chinese police opened fire during a
"riot" in a Tibetan populated area of southwest China.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, A group of about
200 Uighur Muslims demonstrated against China before the Olympic
torch ceremony near Istanbul's Blue Mosque, one of Turkey's most
famous tourist destinations.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Zimbabwe's ruling
party geared up for a final battle to keep Robert Mugabe in power,
saying it was ready for a presidential election run-off with
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
(AFP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, President Hugo
Chavez ordered the nationalization of Venezuela's cement industry,
saying his government cannot allow businesses to continue exporting
raw materials needed to help tackle a domestic housing shortage.
(AP, 4/4/08)

2009 Apr 3, US administration
officials said Pres. Obama planned to lift some curbs on travel to
Cuba, including a ban on family travel and remittances to Cuba.
(WSJ, 4/4/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 3, The regulator of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released a letter disclosing bonus awards
of more than $210 million through next year to more than 7,600
employees.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.C1)
2009 Apr 3, Hassan Abu-Jihaad,
a former US Navy sailor, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for
giving details of ship movements in 2001 to operators of a Web site
in London that openly espoused violent jihad against the US.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Apr 3, The Iowa Supreme
Court issued a unanimous ruling finding that the state's same-sex
marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian
couples, making Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Binghampton, NY,
Jiverly Wong (41) barricaded the back door of a community center
with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants
taking a citizenship class, killing 13 people before apparently
committing suicide. Officials the next day said the man, believed to
be Vietnamese immigrant, was depressed and angry over losing his job
and about his poor English skills.
(AP, 4/3/09)(AP, 4/4/09)(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.A15)
2009 Apr 3, Australia endorsed
a UN declaration that recognizes indigenous rights, reversing years
of opposition and promising a new era in relations between white
Australians and the nation's impoverished Aborigines. Australia was
one of four nations that voted against the declaration when it was
adopted by the General Assembly in 2007.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Cambodian and Thai
soldiers traded fire with machine guns and rocket launchers along a
disputed border, killing as many as four people in an escalation of
tensions in a long-standing feud over an 11th century temple.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, NATO began its
2-day 60th anniversary summit in France and Germany.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In France US Pres.
Obama won enthusiastic support for his new Afghan war strategy from
French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged more police trainers and
civilian aid.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Iraq an American
soldier died of noncombat-related causes in Anbar province.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 3, Israeli police
interrogated the country's new hard-line foreign minister for the
2nd straight day in an ongoing bribery investigation that could make
his tenure short-lived. Avigdor Lieberman was questioned for five
hours about an investigation involving suspicions of receiving
bribes, money laundering and breach of trust.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, A Malawi judge
rejected Madonna's request to adopt a second child from Malawi even
though the country's child welfare minister had supported Madonna's
application to raise the 3-year-old girl.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Malaysian PM Najib
Razak, in his first act after talking office, freed 13 people being
held under a law that allows indefinite detention and lifted a ban
on two opposition newspapers.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Mexico Alberto
Rayas Rodriguez (37), the chief homicide detective in western
Jalisco state, was killed while on his way to a government event
when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on his car.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Nigeria a source
close to negotiations said Pfizer has agreed to pay $75 million
compensation over a 1996 drug trial that caused the death of 11
children in northern Nigeria. Kano state confirmed the settlement on
May 14.
(AFP, 4/3/09)(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 Apr 3, The Philippines
said it will take needed steps to be stricken from a list of four
nations blacklisted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development as uncooperative tax havens.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Sri Lankan troops
captured Anandapuram, a key village from the Tamil Tigers, after
heavy fighting that left at least 44 guerrillas dead. Police
commandos killed 13 Tiger rebels in the eastern district of Ampara.
(AFP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, The Swiss central
bank said UBS has transferred its final installment of toxic assets
to a special state aid fund, bringing the total to 38.7 billion
dollars.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, A Thai citizen was
sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of insulting the king and
his family by posting edited photos of the monarchy on the Internet.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, The UN appointed
Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor for war crimes in
Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to lead a mission to investigate alleged war
crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Apr 3, In Venezuela 3 of
the capital’s former police chiefs were sentenced to 30 years in
prison. They were accused without evidence of complicity in the
murder of several supporters of Pres. Chavez, who died during a coup
attempt in 2002.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.36)
2009 Apr 3, The global diamond
certification body ordered a ban on trade in diamonds from eastern
Zimbabwe over concerns about human rights violations.
(AP, 4/3/09)

2010 Apr 3, In Portland, Maine,
about two dozen women drew a crowd of onlookers when they shed their
shirts and marched downtown to promote what they call
equal-opportunity public toplessness.
(AP, 4/5/10)
2010 Apr 3, Apple Inc. began
selling its much-anticipated iPad, drawing eager customers intent on
being among the first owners of a tablet-style device that the
company is hoping to convince more people they actually need. Some
300,000 iPads were sold the first day.
(AP, 4/3/10)(SFC, 4/6/10, p.D1)
2010 Apr 3, In Los Angeles
Nerse Arthur Galstyan (28), an Armenian national killed, 4 people in
a restaurant following a dispute and escaped the scene.
(SFC, 4/10/10, p.A4)
2010 Apr 3, The upper house of
Afghanistan's parliament backed a decree by President Hamid Karzai
that limits foreigners' role in elections, giving him a victory in a
dispute that has led to a quarrel with the White House.
(Reuters, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, Australia’s PM
Kevin Rudd announced the country’s first population minister, citing
concerns about sustainability as the number of people is tipped to
balloon within decades.
(AFP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, The 230-meter
(754-ft) Shen Neng I, a bulk coal carrier, was on its way to China
when it ran aground on a shoal off offshore from the Australian city
of Rockhampton. Australian government officials said the stranded
ship was leaking oil into the sea and is in danger of breaking up
and damaging the Great Barrier Reef. The ship was refloated on April
12.
(Reuters, 4/4/10)(AP, 4/12/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Dagestan 3
militants there opened fire on police in a drive-by shooting,
killing one and injuring another.
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Egypt police
arrested Ahmed Mahanna, owner of Dawin publishing, and confiscated
copies of "ElBaradei and the Dream of a Green Revolution," a book
calling for political change and lauding the former head of the UN
nuclear agency, Mohammed ElBaradei.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, Gunmen in Iraqi
military uniforms raided a village outside Baghdad and killed at
least 24 people in an execution-style attack, apparently targeting a
Sunni group that revolted against al-Qaida and helped turn the tide
of the Iraq war.
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeatedly criticized Kyrgyzstan for
human rights problems, a strong rebuke to the country once regarded
as former Soviet Central Asia's "island of democracy."
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Mexico 13
members of a family were traveling in a vehicle in an area where the
Defense Department said soldiers were pursing a convoy of gunmen in
the northern state of Tamaulipas. 2 boys were killed by soldiers.
The army later said the family got caught in crossfire during the
confrontation, in which five other members of the family were
wounded. In June Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said
soldiers apparently altered the crime scene to try to blame the
deaths on drug cartel gunmen.
(AP, 6/16/10)
2010 Apr 3, It was reported
that some 4.5 million animals in Mongolia had perished over the last
3 months. A dry summer in 2009 followed by low temperatures and a
heavy snow cover, a phenomenon called the zud, afflicted 19 of the
countries 21 provinces.
(Econ, 4/3/10, p.44)
2010 Apr 3, In Nigeria at least
two people were killed when police fired live rounds to disperse a
group of protesting youths in a suburb of Lagos.
(AFP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, Pakistani troops
fought gunbattles and bombed militant hide-outs in a Taliban
stronghold near the Afghan border, leaving six soldiers and 30
militants dead.
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Somalia at least
13 people were killed in overnight fighting in Mogadishu. Hizbul
Islam's Moalim Hashi Mohamed Farah ordered radio stations to stop
broadcasting music and said he has invited foreign fighters to the
Horn of Africa nation.
(AP, 4/3/10)(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, In South Africa
Eugene Terreblanche (69), the leader of a white supremacist group,
was attacked and killed by a 21-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy
who worked for him on his farm outside Ventersdorp, about 110 km (68
miles) northwest of Johannesburg, following a dispute over pay. The
alleged attackers were arrested and charged with murder.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Thailand tens of
thousands of protesters swarmed Bangkok's tourist heartland, defying
a warning to leave or face arrest.
(AFP, 4/3/10)

2011 Apr 3, In Afghanistan
demonstrators battled police in Kandahar city, where an officer was
shot dead. Demonstrators also took to the streets of Jalalabad for
the first time as Western pleas failed to halt a third day of rage
over a Florida pastor's burning of the Quran. A NATO service member
was killed in an insurgent attack in the east.
(AP, 4/3/11)(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 3, In Afghanistan
Lance Cpl. Harry Lew shot himself following hazing by fellow
Marines. 3 Marines were later accused of hazing Lew. In 2012 lance
Cpl. Jacob Jacoby was sentenced to 30 days in jail and reduction in
rank. Two others faced trial.
(SFC, 2/2/12, p.A6)
2011 Apr 3, Bahraini
authorities banned Al-Wasat, the country's main opposition
newspaper, in a widening effort to muzzle anti-government media and
crackdown on the Shiite opposition in this Sunni-ruled Gulf nation.
The Information Ministry agreed to allow the newspaper to resume
publishing on April 4 after its editor-in-chief and two other top
editors stepped down.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, Bangladeshi
security officials opened fire and used tear gas to disperse
stone-throwing members of a hardline Islamic group protesting a
government policy for women's equal right to inheritance, leaving
one protester dead and 25 others injured.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, Chinese police in
Beijing detained outspoken Chinese artist and social critic Ai
Weiwei preventing him from taking a flight to Hong Kong. He helped
design Beijing's famed "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium but has since
irritated the Communist Party government with his activism. On April
7 China confirmed that it has Weiwei, but insisted his case involves
"economic crimes" and not human rights.
(AFP, 4/4/11)(SFC, 4/4/11, p.A2)(AP, 4/7/11)
2011 Apr 3, In Colombia Walid
Makled, the reputed Venezuelan drug kingpin who Colombia has decided
to extradite back home rather than to the US, said in a TV interview
that he has videos proving Venezuela's ruling elite is deeply
involved in cocaine trafficking.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 3, In Egypt gunmen
abducted Zeina Effat Sadat (12) the grandniece of the late leader
Anwar Sadat, in the upscale Cairo suburb of Heliopolis. They
released her nearly 24 hours later for 5 million pounds (about
$840,000) in ransom on the desert road from Cairo to the
Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Police on April 4 arrested six men
for their alleged part in the kidnapping. A briefcase with 2 million
pounds (about $340,000) was found on the men.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 3, The French air
accident investigation agency BEA said that a team aboard the
expedition ship Alucia using underwater robots "has located pieces
of an aircraft ... in the past 24 hours." Air France Flight 447
slammed into the ocean June 1, 2009, after running into an intense
high-altitude thunderstorm.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 3, In India 15 female
fetuses were found in jars left on a rubbish dump near a private
nursing home in Kishanganj town, Bihar state. Recent census data
showed the ratio of girls to boys is at the nation's lowest level
since 1947.
(AFP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 3, Indonesian
authorities arrested a Filipino woman, coming from Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, with more than two pounds (one kg) of heroin at the Adi
Sumarmo Airport in Solo. She was allegedly paid $8,000 by an
international drug syndicate to carry the heroin.
(AP, 4/7/11)
2011 Apr 3, An Iranian news
agency said four officers were killed in an attack on a police
station near the Kurdish town of Marivan close to the Iraqi border.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, Israel demanded
that the United Nations bin a report critical of its deadly
2008-2009 offensive on Gaza after the author, South African judge
Richard Goldstone, said he had been wrong to say it had targeted
civilians.
(AFP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, Workers at Japan's
crippled Fukushima nuclear plant struggled to stop a radioactive
water leak into the Pacific, as the government warned the facility
may spread contamination for months. TEPCO workers used a polymer
and even newspapers to try to close off pipes through which the
water has flowed into a cracked concrete pit, from where it has run
into the sea. An earlier attempt to seal the crack with cement
failed to stop the leak.
(AFP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, Kazakhstan held
elections. A heavy turnout looked set to overwhelmingly reaffirm the
domination President Nursultan Nazarbayev (70). Provisional figures
the next day showed Nazarbayev with 95% of the vote. Opposition
politicians had called for a boycott and described the election as a
sham.
(AP, 4/3/11)(SFC, 4/4/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 3, In northern Iraq an
American soldier died in a non-combat incident.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 3, Libyan rebels put
their best troops in to battle Muammar Gaddafi's forces for the
eastern oil town of Brega while Western warplanes flew overhead and
the sound of explosions ripped through the air. At least one person
was killed and several wounded when forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled
a building in the rebel-held city of Misrata. Libyan Deputy Foreign
Minister Abdelati Obeidi was reported to have crossed from Libya
into neighboring Tunisia and from there flown to Athens.
(AP, 4/3/11)(Reuters, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, In Mexico municipal
police officers on a routine patrol in El Higo, Veracruz state ran
into at least 20 gunmen on a dirt road and a firefight erupted. 6
officers, including one woman, died of gunshot wounds in the battle.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 3, Dutch marines
killed 2 pirates and captured 16 others during an operation to free
a hijacked Iranian fishing boat of Somalia.
(www.dailybulletin.com/ci_17767176)
2011 Apr 3, Nigeria’s electoral
commission postponed the legislative vote to April 9.
(SFC, 4/4/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 3, Omani authorities
said they have released 57 people arrested in crackdowns against
pro-reform protesters.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, In eastern Pakistan
blasts at a Sufi shrine left at least 44 people dead and some 100
wounded. Police said the blasts in Dera Ghazi Khan were caused by 2
suicide bombers. An unrepentant boy (14) was captured after his
explosives failed to detonate. The boy's arm was later amputated as
a result of injuries he sustained after he was shot by a guard.
(AFP, 4/3/11)(AP, 4/4/11)(AP, 4/8/11)
2011 Apr 3, In Somalia
pro-government forces reportedly captured Dobley town near Kenya
from al-Qaida-linked militants after hours of fighting.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, Syrian President
Bashar Assad appointed Adel Safar (58), a former agriculture
minister, to form a new government. This was part of a series of
overtures toward reform as the country faced a wave of
anti-government protests.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, In southern Yemen
thousands of people took to the streets to demand that their
president step down. Police attacked the demonstrators with tear
gas, batons and bullets. Police killed one anti-government
demonstrator in Taez and wounded scores more. 13 people were shot
and wounded in Hudaydah, as police clashed with thousands of
demonstrators marching on the Red Sea city's main local government
building.
(AP, 4/3/11)(AFP, 4/4/11)

2012 Apr 3, American regulators
finalized a rule enabling them to expand the designation of
“systematically important" institutions to non-banks.
(Econ, 4/14/12, p.84)
2012 Apr 3, US federal
prosecutors said WellCare Health Plans Inc. of Tampa, Florida, has
agreed to pay $137.5 million to settle 4 lawsuits involving
fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims in 9 states.
(SFC, 4/4/12, p.A6)
2012 Apr 3, A US rocket
carrying a top-secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office
blasted off from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base.
(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, Mitt Romney swept
Republican primaries in Maryland (47%), Wisconsin (42%) and
Washington, DC (70%).
(SFC, 4/4/12, p.A6)
2012 Apr 3, Police at
California’s Santa Monica College pepper-sprayed as many as 30
demonstrators after students angry over a plan to offer high-priced
courses tried to push their way into a trustees meeting.
(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, San Francisco’s
treasurer ruled that Airbnb, an online home rental service, and
other companies like it are responsible for paying the city’s hotel
tax.
(SFC, 4/4/12, p.C1)
2012 Apr 3, About a dozen
tornadoes rumbled across the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, leveling
homes and tossing big-rigs around like toy trucks.
(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, US Internet giant
Google started building one of its three planned data centers in
Asia to meet fast growing online demand from the region. A ceremony
was held to begin work on the $300 million, 15 hectare (37 acre)
site in Changhua county, western Taiwan.
(AFP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Argentina Analia
Bouter was informed that her baby was stillborn in a hospital in
Resistencia. She fell to her knees in shock after finding her baby
alive in a coffin in the morgue nearly 12 hours after the girl had
been declared dead. The baby was born 3 months premature and
suffered from sepsis and convulsions with signs of neurological
damage.
(AP, 4/11/12)(SFC, 4/13/12, p.A2)
2012 Apr 3, James Murdoch,
under pressure over his role in Britain's tabloid phone hacking
scandal, stepped down as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting PLC
(BSkyB).
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Afghanistan two
police officers were killed when their vehicle ran over a roadside
bomb in Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province. Two NATO
service members were reported killed in the east. One died in a
roadside bombing, and the other died as a result of a non-battle
related injury.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, Argentine human
rights secretary Eduardo Luis Duhalde (72) died in Buenos Aires. He
was a prominent voice in denouncing abuses during the country's
military dictatorship in the 1970s and 80s. His writings included 24
books, and dealt with human rights issues as well as history.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, An Australian court
found Google Inc. guilty of breaching trade law by posting
misleading or deceptive advertisements in a ruling that holds search
engines responsible for their advertisers' content.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, The European
Commission prohibited Conviasa, Venezuela’s state airline, from
flying into the EU due to safety concerns. Venezuela called the
decision unfair.
(SFC, 4/4/12, p.A2)
2012 Apr 3, In France
preliminary charges were filed against 13 people who were picked up
in a sweep last week, all members of a banned group, Forsane Alizza,
or Knights of Pride. Those charged were reportedly calling for
Muslim Sharia law to be implemented in France.
(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, Richard Descoings
(53), director of one of France’s top colleges, was found dead in
NYC where he was on an official visit. He pioneered efforts to open
elitist schools to the underprivileged and bring in foreign
students.
(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, International
watchdog Transparency International said petty corruption in the
public sector is still costing Greeks millions of euros (dollars) a
year, even though the country's financial crisis has led to a
reduction in the size of bribes.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Guatemala
leading drug trafficker Horst Walther Overdick (44) was arrested and
faced extradition to the United States. He helped Mexico's brutal
Zetas drug cartel expand into Guatemala.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, Guyana said it is
launching a national debate on whether to eliminate its death
penalty and overhaul laws that discriminate against gays, lesbians
and transgender people.
(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, Dozens of Jewish
settlers ignored a deadline to evacuate an illegally occupied West
Bank house in Hebron, as the government remained silent on whether
they would be allowed to stay.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Japan a
typhoon-strength storm brought travel chaos to the country, as
violent winds and rain left least 4 people dead and tens of
thousands stranded.
(AFP, 4/3/12)(AP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, In northern Mali
radical Islamists tightened their grip, ordering women to wear veils
in Timbuktu, as the nation's junta began to feel the bite of
sanctions following its coup. Three of the four leaders of
Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM), were in Timbuktu. Tuareg rebels were seen near the
central town of Mopti.
(AFP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Nigeria a gas
leak occurred during the drilling of a new well in Rivers state,
forcing Total to shut down the Obite gas plant. A snubbing
intervention started on May 9.
(AFP, 5/13/12)
2012 Apr 3, In northern
Pakistan at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in
sectarian violence, prompting the government to deploy troops and
impose a curfew in the towns of Gilgit and Chilas.
(AFP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, The Palestinian
Authority government in the West Bank agreed to supply Gaza with
fuel purchased from Israel for so long as the Hamas-controlled Gaza
electricity authority pays for it.
(AFP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Puerto Rico
Santeria leader Orlando Robles Ortiz was among dozens of suspects
arrested for helping run an organization that allegedly smuggled
drugs bound for the US and rigged Puerto Rico's lottery system to
launder money.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, Russia's Foreign
Ministry announced that the Syrian government said it has begun
implementing a UN envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan that requires it to
withdraw its forces from towns and cities within a week.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Russia a blaze
at Moscow’s Kachalovsky market killed 17 migrant workers who were
unable to escape from the metal shed where they were sleeping. All
were citizens of former Soviet nations in Central Asia.
(AP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, Senegal's new
President Macky Sall named ex-banker Abdoul Mbaye (59) as his prime
minister and vowed his team would serve the public good.
(AFP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, In Sudan’s North
Darfur region aerial bombardments and pro-government militia
attacked areas around Sortony, forcing thousands of civilians to
flee.
(Econ, 4/14/12, p.57)
2012 Apr 3, Syrian opposition
groups reported army raid and arrest campaigns across the country as
well as clashes with local rebels. The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said two civilians were killed in clashes in the northern
village of Taftanaz, where rebel destroyed one army vehicle and
regime forces torched a number of homes. The International Committee
of the Red Cross pressed Syria to give aid workers access to
civilians endangered by shelling and armed clashes. Assaults and
clashes killed across the country killed at least 80 people.
(AP, 4/3/12)(AFP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, Thailand censors
banned a Thai film based on William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", saying
the tale could sow "disunity" in the politically divided kingdom.
(AFP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 3, Togo's President
Faure Gnassingbe received the first part of a report by Togo's
Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, charged with
investigating political violence between 1958 and 2005. Gnassingbe
begged for pardon from victims of political violence committed in
the country between 1958 and 2005, part of which covered the period
his father ruled (1967-2005).
(AFP, 4/3/12)
2012 Apr 3, Yemen said its
armed forces have killed 38 suspected members of Al-Qaeda in two
days of air raids and shelling of their hideouts in Huroor in the
country's south.
(AFP, 4/3/12)

2013 Apr 3, The United States
said it will soon send a missile defense system to Guam to defend it
from North Korea, as the US military adjusts to what US Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel described as a "real and clear danger" from
Pyongyang.
(Reuters, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, In West Virginia
Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum, known for cracking down on the
drug trade in the local coal fields, was shot and killed. Suspect
Tennis Melvin Maynard (37) was hospitalized for gunshot wounds.
(SFC, 4/4/13, p.A6)
2013 Apr 3, Ruth Jhabvala (85),
novelist and screenwriter, died at her home in Manhattan. Her work
included 19 novels and short-story collections and two Oscars for
her work on the films “A Room With a View" and “Howard’s End." Her
novel “Heat and Dust" (1975) won Britain’s Booker Prize (1975).
(SFC, 4/4/13, p.D5)(Econ, 4/13/13, p.94)
2013 Apr 3, In western
Afghanistan 55 people, including 9 attackers, were killed in a
daylong gunbattle with security forces in Farah province. A NATO
airstrike killed 4 policemen and 2 civilians in Ghazni province. An
American F-16 fighter jet crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing
the US pilot.
(AP, 4/3/13)(AP, 4/4/13)
2013 Apr 3, In Argentina at
least 57 people were killed by flooding overnight in Buenos Aires
province.
(AP, 4/3/13)(AP, 4/4/13)
2013 Apr 3, British regulator
Ofgem said Utility SSE has been fined 10.5 million pounds for
mis-selling, the largest fine the regulator has ever imposed on an
energy supplier.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, Canadian Pacific
Railway Ltd suffered its second oil spill in a week, but said just
four barrels of light crude leaked from tanker cars in a morning
derailment in a remote area of northern Ontario. BP’s estimate of
the spill was raised the next day to 400 barrels.
(Reuters, 4/3/13)(Reuters, 4/4/13)
2013 Apr 3, An Egyptian court
ruled against the extradition to Libya of Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam, a
former close aide of Moammar Gadhafi. Al-Dam had coordinated
relations between Libya and Egypt for decades.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, A Greek court
convicted five people on terrorism-related charges
rel ated to a militant anarchist group which
claimed responsibility for a string of bombings over six years
(2003-2009) and fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the US Embassy
in Athens but caused no deaths. Nikos Maziotis and his wife
Panagiota Roupa, were convicted in absentia.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, George Corvington
(88), a prominent Haitian historian, died in Port-au-Prince. His
8-volume, French-language "Port-au-Prince Through the Ages"
chronicled the political and social history of Port-au-Prince, from
its founding under French colonial rule in 1749 to the departure of
President Paul Magloire in 1956.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, In Iraq gunmen shot
dead Yousef Sayhoud, a member of an anti-al-Qaida Sunni militia,
along with his mother in the suburb of Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, Italy's anti-Mafia
investigators said they have seized a record €1.3 billion ($1.7
billion) in cash and property from Vito Nicastri (57) for tax
fraud. The Sicilian alternative energy entrepreneur was alleged to
have close ties to the Mafia.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, Malaysia's PM Najib
Razak dissolved Parliament to call for general elections that will
pit a coalition that has ruled for nearly 57 years against a
resurgent opposition whose pledge to form a cleaner government has
resonated with millions of citizens.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, In central Nigeria
18 people were killed in a head-on collision between two buses near
Gwagwalada, a town outside of Abuja.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, North Korea barred
South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just
over the heavily armed border in the North.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, Palestinian
militants launched several rockets into southern Israel, as Israeli
aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip in the heaviest exchange
of fire between the sides since they agreed to an internationally
brokered cease-fire in November. Israeli forces shot and killed a
teenage Palestinian protester during a clash in the West Bank.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, Samoa Air planned
to start pricing its first international flights based on the weight
of its passengers and their bags. Depending on the flight, each kg
(2.2 pounds) would cost 93 cents to $1.06. The new airline was
launched last June.
(AP, 4/4/13)
2013 Apr 3, Spain's Princess
Cristina (47), daughter of King Juan Carlos, was charged in a
corruption inquiry amid evidence that she was an accomplice to her
husband, Inaki Urdangarin, who has been accused of tax fraud and
embezzling 6 million euros in public funds when he headed a
charitable foundation.
(Reuters, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, In Syria rebels
captured a southern military base on the outskirts of the city of
Daraa in the latest advance by opposition fighters near the
strategic border area with Jordan.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, a Syrian jet fired
a missile that slammed into a house on the outskirts of the Lebanese
border town of Arsal.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 Apr 3, Uganda's top
military official said African troops in Central African Republic
have suspended the hunt for the fugitive warlord Joseph Kony because
the new government there is not cooperating with the mission.
(AP, 4/3/13)

2014 Apr 3, President Barack
Obama signed a decree authorizing punitive sanctions, such as
seizure of assets and visa bans, against anyone in South Sudan
deemed to be threatening peace efforts, targeting UN peacekeeping
forces and violating human rights.
(AFP, 4/11/14)
2014 Apr 3, It was reported
that the US government masterminded the creation of a "Cuban
Twitter" — a communications network designed to undermine the Cuba’s
communist government, built with secret shell companies and financed
through foreign banks. The project, dubbed "ZunZuneo," slang for a
Cuban hummingbird's tweet, was publicly launched soon after Cuba’s
2009 arrest of US contractor Alan Gross.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Mississippi Gov.
Phil Bryant signed the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration
Act. It banned the state government from limiting the free practice
of religion effective July 1.
(SFC, 4/26/14, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/lf9kcnu)
2014 Apr 3, Frank Janssen, the
father of a North Carolina prosecutor, was kidnapped from his home
in Wake Forest. He was held for five days in Atlanta before being
rescued by the FBI. Seven people were soon arrested in the case.
Janssen’s daughter had prosecuted a high-ranking member of the
Bloods street gang.
(SFC, 4/22/14, p.A6)
2014 Apr 3, The state of Texas
executed Tommy Lynn Sells after the US Supreme Court refused to
issue an 11th hour stay to allow lawyers time to investigate the
source and quality of the lethal drugs used put their client to
death. Mr. Sells was on death row for 13 years following his
conviction for killing a 13-year-old Texas girl on New Year’s Eve
1999.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Texas-based
Anadarko Petroleum said it has agreed to pay the US government over
$5.1 billion to thousands of sites polluted by toxins and compensate
thousands of personal-injury claimants. The case originated with
claims against Kerr-McGee, an Oklahoma energy company that went
bankrupt and was bought by Anadarko nearly a decade ago.
(SFC, 4/4/14, p.A6)
2014 Apr 3, In Australia a
large shark killed Christine Armstrong (63) near her terrified
husband and friends as they took their daily morning swim off a
popular east coast beach near the village of Tathra.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Britain's Queen
Elizabeth II paid a private call on Pope Francis at the Vatican,
making him the fifth pontiff she has met.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, In Cambodia 118
employees passed out at work at the Shen Zhou and Daqian Textile
factories in Phnom Penh.
(Reuters, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Chadian officials
said they are withdrawing their peacekeepers from the regional
mission in Central African Republic.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, The European
Parliament voted to stop Internet providers from charging for
preferential access to their networks, a step cheered by consumer
groups but bemoaned by the telecommunications industry.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, The European Space
Agency launched its Sentinel 1A satellite on a Russian Soyuz rocket
from French Guiana. It was the first of six satellites for a new
system designed to better monitor climate change, environmental
disasters and catastrophes like floods, volcanic eruptions and
earthquakes.
(AP, 4/3/14)(SFC, 4/5/14, p.A2)
2014 Apr 3, Germany’s Deutsche
Post said it is no longer accepting letters bound for Crimea after
its Ukrainian counterpart told the Geneva-based Universal Postal
Union (UPU) that delivery to the region was no longer guaranteed.
(Reuters, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Former Guinea
Bissau President Kumba Yala (61) died. He had ruled the West African
nation from 2000 to 2003.
(Reuters, 4/4/14)
2014 Apr 3, In Iraq fighting
between government troops and al-Qaida-inspired militants killed 40
gunmen and an army officer near Baghdad, as attacks continued
elsewhere in the country ahead of elections this month.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Italian police
arrested Nicola Cosentino, a former member of Silvio Berlusconi's
government, accusing him of colluding with the mafia to quash
competition against his family's petrol distribution business near
Naples. Twelve others were also arrested on suspicion of extortion
and unfair competitive practices.
(Reuters, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Liberia said it was
dealing with its first suspected Ebola case thought to be
unconnected to the epidemic raging in Guinea and to have originated
separately within its borders. The fruit bat, thought to be the host
of the highly contagious Ebola virus, is a delicacy in the region
straddling Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and experts suspect
huntsmen may be the source of the outbreak.
(AFP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Nigerian troops
reportedly killed 32 Fulani tribesmen in the Keana local government
area central Nasarawa state. Defense officials denied the charge.
(AFP, 4/4/14)
2014 Apr 3, Nigeria’s Nollywood
was reported to knock out some 2,000 titles a year, making it the
third-largest earner in the movie world, after Bollywood and
Hollywood. The $250-million industry employed more than a million
people.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Pakistan freed at
least 16 Taliban prisoners with the approval of PM Nawaz Sharif, in
a move designed to invigorate a shaky peace process with the
militant group.
(Reuters, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Russia’s gas giant
Gazprom urged Ukraine to pay its debt, and announced a 70 percent
rise in the charge for future supplies.
(AP, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, In the Solomon
Islands the Mataniko River in the capital, Honiara, burst its banks
and flooded low-lying settlements alongside the river. The flash
floods killed 14 people and left thousands more homeless.
(AP, 4/5/14)
2014 Apr 3, In Syria mortar
fire killed at least six children in a suburb of Damascus. 22
opposition fighters were killed in the army's bombardment of Mleiha
east of Damascus.
(AP, 4/3/14)(AFP, 4/4/14)
2014 Apr 3, The number of
Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped 1
million.
(Reuters, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Turkey's telecoms
authority lifted a two-week-old ban on Twitter, after the
constitutional court ruled the block breached freedom of expression.
(Reuters, 4/3/14)
2014 Apr 3, Ugandan police in
Kampala raided the offices of a US-funded project known to offer
AIDS services to homosexuals, in what appeared to be the first
public action by police to enforce a new law that strengthened
criminal penalties against gay sex.
(AP, 4/4/14)
2014 Apr 3, Ukraine authorities
said that they have detained several members of an elite riot police
unit on suspicion of shooting protesters during bloody
anti-government clashes in February that left more than 100 dead.
The interim government has said former Pres. Yanukovych ordered
snipers to be deployed, a charge Yanukovych has denied.
(AP, 4/3/14)

2015 Apr 3, In southern
California Kevin Christopher Bollaert (28) of San Diego was
sentenced to 18 years in prison for operating a revenge porn
website. In February he was found guilty on six counts of extortion
and 21 counts of identity theft.
(SFC, 4/4/15, p.A6)
2015 Apr 3, In Kentucky
torrential rains swamped portions of the state. A mother and child
remained missing after they were swept into a flooded creek in their
car.
(SFC, 4/4/15, p.A4)
2015 Apr 3, US power company
Duke Energy Corp said it has agreed to a $2.5 million settlement
proposed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
relating to the 2014 coal ash spill into the Dan River in North
Carolina.
(Reuters, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, In Afghanistan a
roadside bombing killed 7 people in the Baraki Barak district of
Logar province when a vehicle that two families were riding in
struck a roadside bomb.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, Brazilian police
fired tear gas to break up a protest in a Rio de Janeiro slum that
erupted after a 10-year-old boy was killed in what officers called a
shootout with drug traffickers.
(AFP, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, In Chad 7 civilians
were killed in Tchoukou Telia near Lake Chad in an attack blamed on
Nigerian Boko Haram rebels.
(AFP, 4/6/15)
2015 Apr 3, Xue Feng (50), a
Chinese-born American geologist was released from prison in China
and returned home to Houston after serving more than eight years on
charges of procuring state secrets. Xue was detained in November
2007, and sentenced in 2010 on charges of illegally gathering
information on China's oil industry.
(AP, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, In China
prosecutors charged former national security chief Zhou Yongkang
with corruption and leaking of state secrets, setting the stage for
him to become the highest-level politician to stand trial in China
in more than three decades.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, Czech police said
they have seized a record amount of cocaine in a shipment of bananas
for a supermarket. More than 100 kg (220 pounds) of cocaine, with a
street value of some $40 million, was packed among the bananas.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, The Indonesian
government began moving foreign fishermen from an isolated island
where slavery in the fishing industry was exposed last, out of
concern for their safety.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, Iraq’s PM Haider
al-Abadi ordered government forces to oppose vandalism in the city
of Tikrit, retaken from the Islamic State group this week, and
arrest those responsible.
(AFP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu said he and his Cabinet are united in "strongly opposing"
an emerging framework agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program
and demanded that any final deal contain Iranian recognition of
Israel's right to exist.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, Four soldiers were
killed in Indian Kashmir after their vehicle was buried in an
avalanche in the Himalayan region.
(AP, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, Kenya offered a
$215,000 (200,000 euro) bounty for the capture of alleged Shebab
commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher believed to now
be in Somalia and said to be the mastermind behind the April 2
Garissa attack.
(AFP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, Malaysian
cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Alhaque, better known as Zunar, was
charged with nine counts of sedition over a series of tweets
criticizing the country's judiciary. The charges against Zunar,
known for lampooning the ruling coalition, came amid a widening
government crackdown on opposition politicians and the media slammed
by critics as a move to stifle freedom of expression.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, In Mali a security
guard was killed in a bombing at a home in Bamako.
(AFP, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, In Nigeria gunmen
stormed two communities in the southern oil state of Rivers, killing
at least 9 people and injuring two others. Militants of the Urhobo
minority ethnic group blew up a natural gas pipeline in Delta state.
(AFP, 4/4/15)(Reuters, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, In the Philippines
devotees nailed themselves to wooden crosses to mimic the suffering
of Jesus Christ. At least 4,000 spectators came to watch the
spectacle in San Pedro Cutud village, northern Pampanga province.
(SFC, 4/4/15, p.A2)
2015 Apr 3, It was reported
that Puerto Rico is slated to receive $3.7 million in federal funds
from the US Homeland Security Department to be used for training and
equipment to fight terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, Senegal said it
will scrap visa requirements for foreign visitors, effective May 1,
and slash taxes on air fares as it seeks to revive a tourism sector
crippled by high costs and a regional Ebola outbreak.
(Reuters, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, In South Africa a
500-meter (yard) stretch of Mpenjati Beach officially opened as a
nudist beach. In October, 2014, the Hibiscus Coast local
municipality approved an application by the South African National
Naturist Association (SANNA).
(AFP, 4/2/15)
2015 Apr 3, In Syria Islamic
State militants battled against armed groups inside the Yarmouk
refugee camp in Damascus, and have made new advances inside the
camp.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 3, In Yemen Houthi
forces pulled back from a central Aden district. Warplanes from the
Saudi-led coalition dropped weapons and medical aid to fighters
defending the southern Yemeni city. An air strike on a village near
Sanaa killed a family of nine in what appeared to be a hit by the
Saudi-led military campaign against Houthi militia. Local militia
forces said they killed 10 Houthis during the fighting which pushed
the Shi'ite movement out of Crater. They also said Houthis killed
two medics and two patients when they opened fire on an ambulance
ferrying casualties from Aden peninsula to hospital on the mainland.
(Reuters, 4/3/15)(Reuters, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, Zimbabwe's ruling
ZANU-PF party said it has expelled former vice-president Joice
Mujuru for allegedly plotting against President Robert Mugabe.
(AFP, 4/3/15)

2016 Apr 3, The United States
and its allies conducted two dozen strikes against Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Amtrak Train 89
struck a piece of heavy equipment on the tracks outside
Philadelphia, causing the train's lead engine to derail and killing
two Amtrak workers.
(CSM, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Texas freshman
Haruka Weiser was strangled, sexually assaulted and killed as she
walked to her dorm in Austin. Her body was found on April 5.
(http://tinyurl.com/j68je5s)(SFC, 6/11/16, p.A5)
2016 Apr 3, Joseph Medicine
Crow (102), last war chief of the Crow tribe, died. He was awarded
the US Medal of Freedom in 2009.
(Econ, 4/16/16, p.78)
2016 Apr 3, In Afghanistan at
least six police officers were killed in a Taliban ambush on their
convoy in northern Balkh province.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Azerbaijan's
Defense Ministry announced a unilateral cease-fire against the
separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, but rebel forces in the area
said that they continued to come under fire from Azerbaijani forces.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northern
Bangladesh an explosion killed two suspected militants in the
Sherpur area of Bogra district. The next day a 12-member bomb
disposal unit searched the house and recovered 20 grenades, four
pistols and 25 bullets.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Brussels Airport
reopened with three "symbolic" flights and strict additional checks
for passengers, marking a new high-security era for air travel in
Belgium after the March 22 attacks by Islamic State suicide bombers.
(AFP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Cambodia a
driver trying to ease his car onto a river ferry stepped on the
accelerator instead of the brake, plunging the vehicle into the
water and killing 7 passengers.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Croatia 280,000
euros ($320,000) and two kg (4.4 pounds) of gold were all snatched
from the headquarters of the Croatian police.
(AP, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, Iran's
Revolutionary Guard detained Zaghari-Ratcliffe (37), a
British-Iranian mother and employee of the Thomson Reuters
Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, at Tehran's Imam
Khomeini International Airport and later transferred her to a prison
in the country's Kerman province. She faced charges of trying to
cause the "soft toppling" of the government.
(AP, 6/15/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northern Iraq
militant Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a
high-value target, was reported killed by a drone strike overnight.
He was believed responsible for an attack on US troops in northern
Iraq last month that left a Marine dead.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)(Reuters, 4/4/16)
2016 Apr 3, The Israeli defense
body that handles civilian issues with the Palestinians expanded the
fishing zone. The new easing of restrictions allowed fishermen in
Gaza to now sail farther from the coastal territory.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, A Japanese
submarine made a port call in the Philippines, the first in 15
years, in a show of growing military cooperation amid tension
triggered by China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Liberian health
officials said a second case of Ebola has been confirmed months
after the country had been declared free from transmissions. The son
(5) of a woman who died March 31 from Ebola was taken to a treatment
center in Monrovia.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Police in the
Maldives used pepper spray to break up a protest by journalists and
activists accusing the government of stifling press freedom,
arresting 11 of the demonstrators.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In northwestern
Pakistan flash floods triggered by overnight torrential rains killed
at least 36 people in several areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas quietly established a constitutional court.
The nine-member body, which will have supremacy over all lower
courts, was created without fanfare by presidential decree.
(Reuters, 4/11/16)
2016 Apr 3, A year-long
worldwide media investigation into a trove of 11.5 million
documents, leaked from Panama-based from legal firm Mossack Fonseca
with offices in 35 countries, exposed a tangle of offshore financial
dealings by the elite, from Russia’s Pres. Putin's aides to
relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, sports celebrities and
screen stars. The files had been anonymously passed to Suddeutsche
Zeitung, a German newspaper and emerged in an investigation
published by the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists (ICIJ). The “Panama papers" unveiled the offshore
holdings of 140 politicians and officials, including twelve current
and former presidents, monarchs and prime ministers.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/4/16)(Econ, 4/9/16,
p.14, 59)
2016 Apr 3, Thousands of Poles
protested a possible tightening of the country's abortion law,
already one of the most restrictive in Europe.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In southwestern
Saudi Arabia two vans collided, killing 15 people, including six
children in the Wadi bin Hashbal region of Asir province.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, Syrian troops
seized the key Islamic State group bastion of Al-Qaryatain.
(AP, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In Syria several
Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front members including its spokesman were
killed in US-led coalition air strikes. Abu Firas al-Suri (aka
Radwan Nammous), his son and at least 20 jihadists of Al-Nusra and
Jund al-Aqsa and other fighters from Uzbekistan were killed in
strikes on positions in Idlib province.
(AFP, 4/4/16)(Reuters, 4/6/16)
2016 Apr 3, The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic State has killed 15 of
its members in the largest execution of the militant group's
security services so far in Syria. The killings followed the arrest
a day earlier of 35 members in Raqqa. The members were killed in
connection with the assassination of senior Islamic State figure Abu
Hija al-Tunisi, who died in an air strike on March 30.
(Reuters, 4/3/16)
2016 Apr 3, In central Thailand
a train smashed into a double-decker bus carrying Thai tourists at
an unguarded railway crossing in Nakhon Pathom province. Local media
reported that three people were killed and more than two dozen
injured.
(AP, 4/3/16)

2017 Apr 3, Pres. Donald Trump
donated $78,333.32, his presidential salary to date, to the National
Park Service. Trump had promised to forego his presidential salary,
but by law must be paid.
(SFC, 4/4/17, p.A4)
2017 Apr 3, Pres. Donald Trump
signed into law legislation HJ69, undoing Obama-era rules that
restricted the hunting of bear in Alaska. This soon led to an
increase in orphan bear cubs in the state.
(SFC, 8/12/17, p.A9)
2017 Apr 3, President Donald
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq with the top US
military officer to meet Iraqi leaders and review the fight against
the Islamic State group.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, In St, Louis, Mo.,
three people were killed when an explosion launched a boiler through
the roof of the Loy-Lange Box Company. A fourth person died of his
wounds on April 5.
(SFC, 4/4/17, p.A4)(SFC, 4/7/17, p.A7)
2017 Apr 3, In Texas William
Kenny (64) shot and killed Deputy Clinton Greenwood, a Houston area
constable, outside a courthouse. Kenny shot and killed himself the
next day outside a Houston hospital.
(SFC, 4/11/17, p.A4)
2017 Apr 3, Australia’s PM
Malcom Turnbull and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani signed an aid
agreement at the Australian Parliament House worth 320 million
Australian dollars ($240 million) over four years. Hundreds of
protesters demanded a better deal for the Hazara ethnic minority.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Bahrain's King
Hamad approved a constitutional amendment granting military courts
the right to try civilians, raising concerns among rights groups for
activists in the Gulf kingdom.
(AFP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Bahrain's highest
court overturned a nine-year-prison sentence imposed last year on
Ali Salman, the leader of Bahrain's banned main opposition party,
and restored his original sentence of four years in jail.
(Reuters, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Dubai media
reported that local police have arrested African hackers who
targeted five senior White House officials in a blackmail email
scam. Those arrested were between 24 and 26 years of age and had a
list of "5 million bank accounts," as well as hacking software and
millions of dollars in assets.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, A German court
handed lengthy prison sentences to four Islamic extremists over
plots to bomb a train station in December 2012 and kill a far-right
politician in March 2013.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Italy-based
Menarini-Silicon Biosystems, Inc. announced it has completed the
agreement to purchase all the assets and relevant business related
to the CELLSEARCH® Circulating Tumor Cell System from Janssen
Diagnostics, LLC. The acquisition includes the CELLSEARCH®
Circulating Tumor Cell Test — the first and only clinically
validated blood test cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration
for detecting and enumerating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to help
manage patients with metastatic breast, prostate, and colorectal
cancers.
(http://tinyurl.com/yckqtdel)
2017 Apr 3, Polish prosecutors
said they would press charges against two Russian air traffic
controllers of deliberately contributing to a 2010 plane crash that
killed Poland's president and 95 other people.
(Reuters, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, In Russia an
explosion ripped through a subway train in St. Petersburg, killing
14 people and injuring 50 others. The blast came as Russian
President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. Within
two hours authorities found and deactivated another bomb at a
separate busy St. Petersburg subway station, Vosstaniya Square by
the Moscow railway station. Kyrgyz officials soon identified the
suspected suicide bomber as Akbarzhon Jalilov (Akbarjon Djalilov),
born in the city of Osh in 1995. One of the injured people died on
April 21, raising the death toll to 15. On May 11 suspects Bakhram
Ergashev, Ibragimzhon Ermatov and Makhamadyusuf Mirzaalimov were
charged with involvement in a "terrorist act" and with having
illegally used explosives. Seven other suspects awaited charges.
(AP, 4/3/17)(Reuters, 4/4/17)(AFP, 4/21/17)(AFP,
5/11/17)
2017 Apr 3, In Rwanda inmates
protesting living conditions at Gasabo prison in Kigali hurled
stones over the prison's walls, damaging nearby houses and
disrupting traffic. Rioting began on Mar 31 when the prison, which
houses at least 5,000 inmates, caught fire, according to residents
living near the prison.
(Reuters, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Singapore said it
would repatriate Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel Abdul Malik (46), the
chief cleric of a Muslim mosque, for offensive remarks targeting
Christians and Jews, a decision that aimed to "repudiate divisive
speech". During prayers on Jan. 6, the cleric made use of the
phrase, "Grant us help against the Jews and the Christians."
(Reuters, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Slovakia's Pres.
Andrej Kiska signed a constitutional amendment that makes it
possible for lawmakers to annul pardons granted by former PM
Vladimir Meciar that barred an investigation into the kidnapping of
the son of late Pres. Michal Kovac.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Syrian government
forces intensified their bombardment of opposition-held areas around
Damascus and the central city of Hama, as they pushed to erase
battlefield advances made by insurgents in March.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, In southern
Thailand gunmen with grenade launchers and other heavy weapons
attacked a police checkpoint, injuring six officers, in what
appeared to be the latest violence by Muslim separatists who have
been fighting for more than a decade.
(AP, 4/3/17)
2017 Apr 3, Venezuelan
authorities said they've arrested six officials for taking bribes to
issue identification documents to Syrians.
(AP, 4/4/17)